Fukami Ramen 후카미(ふかみ)라멘

Fukami Ramen is a Japanese ramen shop on Sannam-ro in Seowon-gu, Cheongju. Its central bowls are Shiro and Aka ramen built on the same pork-bone foundation. Shiro leaves the pale fat, bone aroma, and rounded salinity of tonkotsu directly exposed. Aka adds a red spicy seasoning that shifts the broth toward a sharper Korean-familiar chili profile without completely covering its pork density. Tasting the liquid first makes the difference clear: Shiro is pale, oily, and mild in color, while Aka carries visible red seasoning and a stronger tongue-prickling finish. Thin Japanese-style noodles soften quickly in the hot soup. Chashu and chopped green onion break up the surface, adding brown meat, fresh green color, and textures distinct from the fine strands. Tsukemen separates noodles from its dipping liquid, but the sauce is more soup-like and less viscous than the heavily concentrated style often associated with that dish. The noodles have a relatively plain spring rather than an unusually firm or complex structure. Chashu pieces can retain a firmer chew instead of dissolving into soft fat. Those traits give the tsukemen a different impression from the denser integrated Shiro and Aka bowls. White rice placed beside the ramen absorbs leftover tonkotsu broth between its grains, extending the pork-bone base and, with Aka, the red seasoning after the noodles are gone. The shop occupies a compact room with a small number of seats, placing ramen bowls, water cups, and condiments at close intervals. Pale Shiro, red Aka, a separate plate of tsukemen noodles, brown sliced pork, green onion, and white rice create the main visual contrasts. The restaurant has kept these two tonkotsu directions in the same Cheongju neighborhood for more than six years. Its focus remains narrow and legible: a mild white pork-bone bowl, a spicy red counterpart, a separated dipping-noodle format, chashu, and rice for the remaining broth.